Leadership

A reflection on service excellence, leadership, and having “ops” in you—shaped by early airline customer service experience and reinforced during a real-time transit disruption. This piece explores why leadership is simply service delivered to different clients, and why trust, honesty, and showing up matter most when things don’t go as planned.

As I sit down on this Saturday afternoon, I can’t help but feel a little disappointed in myself — for no good reason, really. My last blog post was on January 9th , and it’s now January 24th … which means I’ve spent a full 15 days thinking about what to write next with absolutely no luck. So here I am: stuck inside because it’s -12°C (10.4°F) outside (feels like -19°C / -2.2°F ), drinking the first coffee I’ve had in over a month (more on that later) , trying to write an e

Why CSR Works in (Almost) Every Scenario Over the past few days, I’ve been approached by a number of colleagues, friends, and family members about my last post — specifically about my vision board. The questions surprised me. “What does that actually do for you?" “Do you just stare at it?” “How would I even think about making one for myself?” “How did you go about doing yours?” I didn’t expect so many people to read into it, let alone consider creating one of their own. While

As we move into 2026, I find myself staring at my screen thinking: " Oh god. What if this all goes wrong? Why now? Should I even do this?" It’s a thought I’ve had more times than I’d like to admit — both personally and professionally. And if I’m being honest, that uncertainty is exactly why I’m here, writing this post. For those who don’t know me — Hi! My name is Graydon McGowan . I grew up in the small town of Grand Valley, Ontario. From a young age, I knew I was different